The Daily Grind: The Other Sweet Erv

Invitationalists should note the words of section five.

AGENDA

1. Sweet Erv 2.0
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. TDG Invitational Returns!

1. Sweet Erv 2.0

How’s this for a violent swing?

Phillip Ervin has developed slowly as a prospect. The 25-year-old is a patient hitter with middling power and decent speed. He’s probably more of a fourth outfielder than a true starter. Note his 99 wRC+ at Triple-A. Ervin took advantage of a middle-middle fastball yesterday to blast his second homer in 10 plate appearances. This could be one of those opportunities to ride a hot streak. I’d bet on him getting a useful lineup role today.

2. Weather Reports

Four games are looking mighty stormy. Baltimore, New York (NL), Boston, and Kansas City are all postponement risks. I recommend keeping an eye on @KevinRothWx.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Corey Kluber ($11,600) plays the role of King K. Rool this evening. He’s visiting the Royals in their possibly stormy hovel. If you’d prefer to avoid any risk of rain, Max Scherzer is $100 cheaper. He’s hanging out at Petco Park with the lousy Padres offense. For super duper mega aces with good matchups, these are must-play prices.

Carlos Martinez also has a must-play price. For $9,500, you get a high floor and super duper mega ace upside against the Pirates. The game is at pitcher friendly PNC Park. Martinez doesn’t pitch deep into his outings as consistently as the Klubot and the Scherz ( the Scherz is played by Henry Winkler).

Dallas Keuchel is hosting the Athletics. He’s extremely likely to earn a win and could keep pace with the bigger, badder aces. Rich Hill is visiting a gutted Detroit offense. He’s en fuego. My favorite value of the year, Zack Godley, is touring Target Field. He’s more of a high floor, middle ceiling type.

Digging deeper, two bargain arms jump to the fore. Trevor Williams is a poor man’s Godley. This is only the 20th time I’ve typed that phrase in that last few weeks (although possibly the first for TDG). Williams is on the wrong side of CMart. Jordan Montgomery, aka the poor man’s Hill (except not really), has a tough matchup against the Red Sox. He just faced them last week too with mixed results.

Stack Targets:  Matt Garza, Sean Manaea, Sal Romano, Justin Nicolino, Erasmo Ramirez, James Shields, Luis Perdomo, Jordan Zimmermann, Austin Pruitt, Chris Flexen, German Marquez, Zach Eflin

4. SaberSim Says…

Schezer, Kluber, Matt Moore, Keuchel, and Drew Pomeranz are the top listed pitchers tonight. I’ll pass on Moore. Always. Pomeranz is the true poor man’s Rich Hill, but I’m hesitant to try him against the Yankees. Guess the top bats? Mike Trout, Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, Giancarlo Stanton, and Ryan Braun. SaberSim likes Coors Field. Stunning. Adam Lind, Yoan Moncada, Bradley Zimmer, and Rhys Hoskins are among the bargains du jour.

5. The Daily Grind Invitational

As promised, difficulties filling the TDG Invitational have led me to reduce the number of entrants from 20 to 15. I suppose “congrats” are in order for jourgensen. He won yesterday’s free contest on FanDuel. We all had really good days. Eleven of 18 lineups scored over 140 points.

We’ll continue on FanDuel tonight. See ya there. Note the slightly different payouts – the top five score cash prizes now.